Guest Post by Alison McMahan + Giveaway: The Saffron Crocus

Today on the blog please help me welcome author Alison McMahan! Alison is currently on Blog Tour with HF Virtual Book Tours for her Historical YA novel, The Saffron Crocus, and today I am so excited to bring you an awesome post from Alison and a chance for you to win a copy of the book!

A question that comes up often when I appear at author events is "why historical?" My 'cute' answer is that I don't have to make anything up — not what the characters were wearing or what they ate. It's all there to be looked up.

Of course that answer is simplistic. Most historical authors, myself included, work hard to weave together a story that's composed of true historical events/settings/figures, accurately described, mixed in with fictional characters living out their own dramas.

For The Saffron Crocus (www.TheSaffronCrocus.com), my young adult historical mystery, I knew I wanted the story to be set in Venice, a city I'd visited a few times. After some research, I picked the year 1643. Why 1643? Because I wanted my heroine, Isabella, to be fifteen and to have lost her parents in the Black Plague of 1633, when she was five. And since Isabella wants to sing, first in Claudio Monteverdi's choir and then in operas, I had to choose a time when Monteverdi was still choir director at San Marco's Basilica and his first operas were being performed.

One of the great pleasures of writing historical is stumbling on discoveries that change everything in your novel. I was reading travel articles about Venice and stumbled on this gem:

Venice is no ordinary city, and neither is its cemetery. Until the early 19th century, Venetians usually buried their dead under paving stones within the central city -- not a salutary practice, particularly in times of pestilence. So the Austrian occupation decreed in 1837 that San Michele would be the only possible burial ground for most Venetians. (A Jewish cemetery dating from the 14th century is on the Lido.) (Susan Allen Toth, New York Times, 1993: Venice's Isle Of The Dead) http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/16/travel/venice-s-isle-of-the-dead.html

Venice buried their dead under paving stones! This changed all my memories of wandering around Venice and taking in the sights. When I walked across a campo, was I walking over Venice's dead?

Just as fascinating was that Venetian Jews had a cemetery centuries before Christian Venetians did. These two facts together inspired in the crafting of one of the main twists in the story.

Even though The Saffron Crocus is a mystery, it's not all about death. Isabella is fifteen. In 1643 that made her an adult. She had to decide how she was going to earn her living and who she was going to marry. But she's still young enough to be trying new things and getting into trouble.

I wanted to write a scene a modern teenager would identify with. Today's teenagers sneak off with a six pack of beer. But in 1643 the drug of choice was coffee. Called cavee, it was much stronger than what Americans drink today, and definitely had a mind-altering effect. So I built a scene of teenagers hanging out and getting to know each other around the 'forbidden substance' of cavee.

More than anything, The Saffron Crocus is about music. As I did my research, I was pained and saddened to discover that many scores to operas have been lost. One of the greatest losses is L'Arianna, by Claudio Monteverdi. All that remains is the music for one aria, the "Lamento d'Arianna" (Arianna's Lament), which is still performed today. You can find many versions on youtube. This discovery influenced me to write the scene that for me was one of the most powerful scenes in the book.

Historical research can be difficult and time consuming, but sometimes even a small discovery can have a huge impact on a story.

About The Saffron Crocus

Publication Date: December 13, 2014 | Black Opal Books | eBook; 306p

Genre: Young Adult/Historical Mystery/Romance

Winner of the 2014 Rosemary Award for Best Historical for Young Adults.

Venice, 1643. Isabella, fifteen, longs to sing in Monteverdi’s Choir, but only boys (and castrati) can do that. Her singing teacher, Margherita, introduces her to a new wonder: opera! Then Isabella finds Margherita murdered. Now people keep trying to kill Margherita’s handsome rogue of a son, Rafaele.

Was Margherita killed so someone could steal her saffron business? Or was it a disgruntled lover, as Margherita—unbeknownst to Isabella—was one of Venice’s wealthiest courtesans?

Or will Isabella and Rafaele find the answer deep in Margherita's past, buried in the Jewish Ghetto?

Isabella has to solve the mystery of the Saffron Crocus before Rafaele hangs for a murder he didn’t commit, though she fears the truth will drive her and the man she loves irrevocably apart.

Excerpt

Who knew a singing career would be this much trouble?

“Rafaele!” She flew into the garret. “Piero, it was so wonderful, wait until I tell you!”

The stool next to the bed was knocked over. The tray with the genepy bottle was on the floor, one of the cups broken. The fat candle that had been burning next to Rafaele’s bed had been flung to the other side of the room.. Canvases were strewn all over the floor, some of them slashed, and many of Master Strozzi’s jars of paint elements were broken.

Did Piero and Rafaele have a fight? She quickly suppressed the thought. Who would get into a fight with a man who was already injured?

Something else must have happened.

She walked across the garret. “Piero? Rafaele, are you here?”

Rafaele was not in the bed. The sheets and blankets she had piled on top of him were strewn everywher. Blood-stained sheets spilled over the edge of the pallet. There was a pile of clothes on the floor.

She walked around to get a closer look.

Not clothes. It was Piero. Face down, one arm stretched out before him, as if in supplication.

A puddle of blood under him.

Dead.

Praise for The Saffron Crocus

"I adored this beautifully written, passionate book. The Saffron Crocus is a glittering, thrilling opera of a novel that plucked my heartstrings and kept me reading at fever pitch. Brava, Alison McMahan! Encore!" -Nancy Holder, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Wicked Saga

Buy the eBook

About the Author

Alison McMahan chased footage for her documentaries through jungles in Honduras and Cambodia, favelas in Brazil and racetracks in the U.S. She brings the same sense of adventure to her award-winning books of historical mystery and romantic adventure for teens and adults. Her latest publication is The Saffron Crocus, a historical mystery for young. Murder, Mystery & Music in 17th Century Venice.

Giveaway

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Rules

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